Ann M. Rasmusson, MD
Professor, Psychiatry
Biography
Ann Rasmusson, MD is the Psychiatry Liaison, PTSD Research and Education, at VA Boston Healthcare System, a Research Associate of the VA National Center for PTSD, Women’s Health Science Division, and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University. She earned her undergraduate degree at North Dakota State University and MD at the University of Chicago before completing a residency in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins and a neuropsychopharmacology research fellowship and psychiatry residency at Yale University School of Medicine.
Dr. Rasmusson’s basic research focused on understanding the role of the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus in coordinating hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, mesoprefrontal cortical monoamine, and behavioral responses to unconditioned and conditioned stress. Her clinical research has contributed to the current expanded view of neurobiological factors that contribute to PTSD risk and stress resilience. This research has evolved to focus on gender differences in the neurobiology of PTSD and a role for neuroactive steroids and neuropeptides in the pathophysiology and treatment of PTSD and its comorbidities. She is currently a Lead Investigator of a DOD sponsored multisite Phase II investigation of the GABAergic neuroactive steroid ganaxolone in the treatment of PTSD and Principal Investigator on an NIMH study of GABAergic neuroactive steroids in the pathophysiology of PTSD, a VA Merit Review investigating gender-related neurobiological factors that promote refractory nicotine dependence in veterans with PTSD, and the VA RR&D sponsored Translational Center for Traumatic Brain Injury and Stress (TRACTS) investigation of Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) efficacy in PTSD with and without TBI. She is the author of 56 peer-reviewed papers, reviews, and chapters and is the mother of one lovely teenage daughter.
Other Positions
- VA Boston Healthcare System
Education
- Pritzker School of Medicine, MD
- University of North Dakota, BS
- University of North Dakota, BS
Publications
- Published on 11/13/2023
Wolf EJ, Miller MW, Hawn SE, Zhao X, Wallander SE, McCormick B, Govan C, Rasmusson A, Stone A, Schichman SA, Logue MW. Longitudinal study of traumatic-stress related cellular and cognitive aging. Brain Behav Immun. 2024 Jan; 115:494-504. PMID: 37967663.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/22/2023
Pineles SL, Ni P, Pandey S, Japuntich SJ, Cesare N, Shor R, Carpenter JK, Gregor K, Joos CM, Blumenthal TD, Rasmusson AM. Tobacco withdrawal-induced changes in sensorimotor filtering as a predictor of smoking lapse in trauma-exposed individuals. Addict Behav. 2024 Jan; 148:107868. PMID: 37774527.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/28/2022
Rasmusson AM, Novikov O, Brown KD, Pinna G, Pineles SL. Pleiotropic endophenotypic and phenotype effects of GABAergic neurosteroid synthesis deficiency in posttraumatic stress disorder. Curr Opin Endocr Metab Res. 2022 Aug; 25. PMID: 36909842.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/28/2021
Rasmusson AM, Pineles SL, Brown KD, Pinna G. A role for deficits in GABAergic neurosteroids and their metabolites with NMDA receptor antagonist activity in the pathophysiology of posttraumatic stress disorder. J Neuroendocrinol. 2022 02; 34(2):e13062. PMID: 34962690.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/23/2021
Arditte Hall KA, DeLane SE, Anderson GM, Lago TR, Shor R, Wang W, Rasmusson AM, Pineles SL. Plasma gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in trauma-exposed women: a preliminary report. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2021 Jun; 238(6):1541-1552. PMID: 33620549.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/6/2021
Nillni YI, Rasmusson AM, Paul EL, Pineles SL. The Impact of the Menstrual Cycle and Underlying Hormones in Anxiety and PTSD: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go From Here? Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2021 01 06; 23(2):8. PMID: 33404887.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/1/2020
Scioli ER, Smith BN, Whitworth JW, Spiro A, Esterman M, Dutra S, Bogdan KM, Eld A, Rasmusson AM. Moderated mediation for exercise maintenance in pain and posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized trial. Health Psychol. 2020 Sep; 39(9):826-840. PMID: 32833484.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/15/2020
Pineles SL, Nillni YI, Pinna G, Webb A, Arditte Hall KA, Fonda JR, Irvine J, King MW, Hauger RL, Resick PA, Orr SP, Rasmusson AM. Associations between PTSD-Related extinction retention deficits in women and plasma steroids that modulate brain GABAA and NMDA receptor activity. Neurobiol Stress. 2020 Nov; 13:100225. PMID: 32490055.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 4/18/2020
Kim BK, Fonda JR, Hauger RL, Pinna G, Anderson GM, Valovski IT, Rasmusson AM. Composite contributions of cerebrospinal fluid GABAergic neurosteroids, neuropeptide Y and interleukin-6 to PTSD symptom severity in men with PTSD. Neurobiol Stress. 2020 May; 12:100220. PMID: 32435669.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/14/2019
Kimball A, Dichtel LE, Nyer MB, Mischoulon D, Fisher LB, Cusin C, Dording CM, Trinh NH, Yeung A, Haines MS, Sung JC, Pinna G, Rasmusson AM, Carpenter LL, Fava M, Klibanski A, Miller KK. The allopregnanolone to progesterone ratio across the menstrual cycle and in menopause. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2020 02; 112:104512. PMID: 31780185.
Read at: PubMed
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